My mother, the Santa Collector ...

This is just one of many hundreds of Santas that my mother collected over the years. She had traveled quite a bit so she had a veritable United Nations of Santas. Then, of course, we (her five daughters) couldn’t resist adding to her collection … which we did for many years. Each of those were carefully labeled by mother with the date and the name of which girl gave it to her so that “he would go back to his rightful owner once I’m gone”.

Mother lived to be 94 and when she died in 1988 we honored her wish. We dispersed her collection by claiming those with our names attached and then divided the rest of the collection by choice.

This was the beginning of my own collection which includes this hand-blown glass Santa that I picture here. It comes from Germany and is probably my most valuable one. He measures barely 3 inches from base to stopper and is filled with red water. It’s really a very sweet piece but the picture does not do it justice. I have only seen one other that resembles it and that was about ten years ago in an antique shop. I was shocked at the hefty price tag. Of course that was interesting but there’s actually no way to judge the value of a collection like this … the memories alone are priceless. 

So, as I end this entry I call on my all-time favorite Santa to help me wish each and everyone of you a safe and joyous Holiday Season… or, as he would say it …

HO, HO, HO !